News Briefs

Another state legislator busted…foreclosures are down…so is religion…are you on welfare?..Another way Charlestown could get sued

By Will Collette

State Senate Majority Leader busted for DUI. Sen. Dominick Ruggerio (D-Prov) is the latest in a string of state legislators to get busted.

Ruggerio was arrested Wednesday morning by Barrington Police, who responded to a call reporting an erratic driver. According to the police report, Ruggerio was stopped after the police officer saw enough.

According to the report, Ruggerio smelled strongly of liquor and had red eyes, a flushed face and slurred speech. He also responded to the police siren by stopping in the middle of the road, not by pulling off to the side. Ruggerio said he was coming from a benefit in Providence and was following a friend to “a woman’s house.”

The friend was Sen. Frank Ciccone, who emerged from a second car. Ruggerio failed field sobriety tests, but refused to take any additional tests or sign anything because he didn’t have his lawyer present. That refusal led to an additional charge. Ruggerio will appear in District Court on April 4 and later in Traffic Tribunal. Ruggerio has stated he "accepts full responsibility for his actions" and apologized for his behavior.

Overall Rhode Island foreclosure rates are down. Charlestown’s rate is categorized as “moderately high.” The Providence Business News reports some good news that the state’s rate of mortgage foreclosures has lessened by 0.6% over the past year. According to the newly published data, around 2.85% of Rhode Island mortgages are going into foreclosure. This is a lot better than the 3.43% national average.

In Charlestown’s 02813 zip code, the foreclosure rate is between 2.0% and 2.2% of all mortgages; Bradford and Shannock are rated “high.” Though the total number of foreclosures is small compared to the northern cities, based on Charlestown's small size, the rate of foreclosure rates as "moderately high.

Providence Business News also says the new data shows a decline in the state’s rate of mortgage delinquency. Fewer foreclosures and distressed properties (and homeowners) is good news for everyone since home prices are pushed down when there are lots of properties for sale by banks or by desperate homeowners.

Rhode Islanders are not very religious. You’d never know it by all the comments we get (although they could all be from the same person), but Rhode Island is tied with New York and the District of Columbia as the 10^th least religious state, according to a new Gallup Poll. 

According to the poll, only one in three (32%) Rhode Islanders said they were “very religious.” By contrast, 59% of Mississippians said they were very religious, earning Mississippi the distinction of being the nation’s most religious state.

Among the other least religious states are Vermont and New Hampshire, tied for 1^st, Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, Washington state and Connecticut.

Following Mississippi among the most religious states are Utah, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Oklahoma. But not, surprisingly, Texas.

Duh!

96% of Americans have benefited from a federal social program. Cornell University social researcher Suzanne Mettler has written a new book, “The Submerged State.” In it, she looks at how much Americans take for granted programs that improve their lives. She asked a large sample of people to say whether they have ever used a government social program and found that only 43% said they did.

But after listing 21 popular social programs, such as Medicare, student loans and the home mortgage interest tax deduction, the number rose to 96%.

Digging deeper, Mettler and co-author Julianna Koch found  that people’s perceptions are largely shaped by the way the social programs are designed. Some programs, like food stamps, Medicaid or public assistance, require you to go to a government office and apply directly. These programs are pretty easy to perceive as a social program.

But other programs, such as Medicare, various tax breaks, student loans and tax-free employer-provided health insurance, are often not seen as social programs, even though they can be very costly. For example, the mortgage interest deduction costs $150 billion a year – paid for by all taxpayers, but used only by those who can claim the deduction.

Mettler points to these “invisible” social programs as a factor in the country’s current political polarization. “I think one of the drivers of the kind of polarization we have today is policy design and delivery, because we have these policies where people can benefit a lot from the government but become more anti-government because they’re paying higher taxes and don’t think they’re getting benefits.”

Another Lawsuit in the Making against Charlestown? New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town of Foxborough in a dispute over his use of two billboards on Patriots’ property. Since 2007, Kraft has managed the two billboards and split the revenue with the town.

But earlier this year, the town tried to scuttle the contract and put the management contract out to public bid. Kraft argues that the town can’t do this because the billboards are on his property. And he has a contract.

But the town refused to allow Kraft’s representative to raise these issues at public Town Council meetings, leading Kraft to also charge the town with violating his constitutional free speech rights. Kraft’s enterprises, Gillette Stadium and Patriots Place lead among them, are Foxborough’s top taxpayer. The dispute over the billboards has damaged the 27-year relationship between the town’s government and its largest taxpayer, the Boston Globe reported on March 26.

So Charlestown Town Council Boss Tom Gentz should bear this in mind when he decides to rule out any debate or discussion about sports lighting at our own Ninigret Park, he could be opening Charlestown up to yet another lawsuit.